PuTTY AlternativesOnly apps categorised as Shells

The best Shell alternative to PuTTY is Tabby, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to PuTTY and 17 are Shells so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Shell alternatives to PuTTY are Termux, ReTerminal, PowerShell and ZOC.

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PuTTY alternatives are mainly Shells, but if you're looking for Terminal Emulators or SSH Clients you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Mac, iPhone, Linux, iPad, Windows, Google Chrome and Android. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to PuTTY.
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Alternatives list

  1. Tabby icon
     128 likes

    Tabby is an infinitely customizable cross-platform terminal app for local shells, serial, SSH and Telnet connections.

    120 Tabby alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
  2. Termux icon
     123 likes

    Experience a powerful Unix terminal on Android without the need for rooting. Customize with packages via Apt, run command-line tools, SSH, and program in C, Python, and more. Enjoy a full Unix environment with bash, zsh, mouse support, and external display compatibility.

    119 Termux alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • F-Droid
    • zsh
    • GNU Bourne Again SHell
     
  3. ReTerminal icon
     21 likes

    ReTerminal is a sleek, Material 3-inspired terminal emulator designed as a modern alternative to the legacy Jackpal Terminal. Built on Termux's robust TerminalView.

    70 ReTerminal alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • F-Droid
     
  4. PowerShell icon
     202 likes

    PowerShell (including Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core) is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on the .NET Framework.

    70 PowerShell alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
     
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    6
  5. ZOC icon
     70 likes

    ZOC is a powerful and well-established terminal emulator and telnet client, well known for its outstanding user interface with tabbed multi session support.

    80 ZOC alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
     
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    8
  6. Terminal icon
     86 likes

    Terminal (also referred to as Terminal.app) is a terminal emulator included in Apple's Mac OS X operating system. It originated in Mac OS X's predecessors, NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, and allows the user to interact with the computer through a command line interface.

    110 Terminal alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  7. Termux Monet icon
     1 like

    A terminal emulator application for Android 8+ OS extendible by variety of packages, with Monet support and experimental features.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Android
     
  8. MacTerm icon
     7 likes

    MacTerm (was MacTelnet) on OS X is now a complete replacement for Terminal, allowing access to both local and remote applications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  9. Pocketputty icon
     1 like

    It is a Windows CE port of famous PuTTY (free, BSD licensed open source SSH terminal for Windows). I started to port PuTTY as a part of my diploma thesis. After quite big success (10.000 downloads during 1st month after release), I decided to polish the code and open the source...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows Mobile
     
12 of 17 PuTTY alternatives